Stable population structure in Europe since the Iron Age, despite high mobility

ML Antonio, CL Weiss, ZY Gao, S Sawyer, V Oberreiter, HM Moots, JP Spence, O Cheronet, B Zagorc, E Praxmarer, KT Özdogan, L Demetz, P Gelabert, D Fernandes, M Lucci, T Alihodzic, S Amrani, P Avetisyan, C Baillif-Ducros, Z BedicA Bertrand, M Bilic, L Bondioli, P Borówka, E Botte, J Burmaz, D Buzanic, F Candilio, M Cvetko, D De Angelis, I Drnic, K Elschek, M Fantar, A Gaspari, G Gasperetti, F Genchi, S Golubovic, Z Hukelová, R Jankauskas, KJ Vuckovic, G Jeremic, I Kaic, K Kazek, H Khachatryan, A Khudaverdyan, S Kirchengast, M Korac, V Kozlowski, M Krosláková, DK Spalj, F La Pastina, M Laguardia, S Legrand, T Lelekovic, T Leskovar, W Lorkiewicz, D Los, AM Silva, R Masaryk, V Matijevic, YMS Cherifi, N Meyer, I Mikic, N Miladinovic-Radmilovic, BM Zakic, L Nacouzi, M Natuniewicz-Sekua, A Nava, C Neugebauer-Maresch, J Novácek, A Osterholtz, J Paige, L Paraman, D Pieri, K Pieta, S Pop-Lazic, M Ruttkay, M Sanader, A Soltysiak, A Sperduti, TS Pesterac, M Teschler-Nicola, I Teul, D Toncinic, J Trapp, D Vulovic, T Waliszewski, D Walter, M Zivanovic, ME Filah, M Causevic-Bully, M Slaus, D Boric, M Novak, A Coppa, R Pinhasi, JK Pritchard

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Ancient DNA research in the past decade has revealed that European population structure changed dramatically in the prehistoric period (14,000–3000 years before present, YBP), reflecting the widespread introduction of Neolithic farmer and Bronze Age Steppe ancestries. However, little is known about how population structure changed from the historical period onward (3000 YBP - present). To address this, we collected whole genomes from 204 individuals from Europe and the Mediterranean, many of which are the first historical period genomes from their region (e.g. Armenia and France). We found that most regions show remarkable inter-individual heterogeneity. At least 7% of historical individuals carry ancestry uncommon in the region where they were sampled, some indicating cross-Mediterranean contacts. Despite this high level of mobility, overall population structure across western Eurasia is relatively stable through the historical period up to the present, mirroring geography. We show that, under standard population genetics models with local panmixia, the observed level of dispersal would lead to a collapse of population structure. Persistent population structure thus suggests a lower effective migration rate than indicated by the observed dispersal. We hypothesize that this phenomenon can be explained by extensive transient dispersal arising from drastically improved transportation networks and the Roman Empire’s mobilization of people for trade, labor, and military. This work highlights the utility of ancient DNA in elucidating finer scale human population dynamics in recent history.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere79714
Pages (from-to)1-41
Number of pages41
JournaleLife
Volume13
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 Jan 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Antonio, Weiß, Gao et al.

Funding

We thank Professor Walter Scheidel for helpful discussions and feedback on the historical context, and all members of the Pritchard and Pinhasi labs for their valuable input. We thank Pieter W Faber and the University of Chicago Genomics Facility for sequencing the samples reported here. We thank Benjamin Peter and an anonymous reviewer for their insightful and constructive reviews. This project was partially supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (MLA.), a grant from the National Institutes of Health RO1 HG011432 (CLW), the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) M3108-G (SS), and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (JKP).

FundersFunder number
University of Chicago Genomics Facility
National Science Foundation
National Institutes of HealthRO1 HG011432
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Austrian Science Fund

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